New Teams for IPL4 - Pune and Kochi will be IPL frenchises Priced at 370M$ & 333M$ by Sahara & Rendezvous

Suspense unveiled after much delay for the 2 new IPL frenchieses for the 4th edition of IPL in 2011, as Pune and Kochi sold out at a whopping price of US$ 370 Millions by team India sponsor Sahara Group and US$ 333.33 Millions by Rendezvous Sports World in the auction at the ITC Park Sheraton in Chennai on Sunday, 21st March, 2010.

The cities in the race were Pune, Ahmedabad, Nagpur, Kanpur, Dharamsala, Vizag, Rajkot, Cuttack, Baroda, Kochi, Indore and Gwalior. The base price for the two new franchises, which would take up the number of teams in the IPL to 10, has been fixed at $225 million for the next 10 years.

Sahara had the highest bids for three cities - Ahmedabad, Pune and Nagpur, but it finally opted for Pune. Sahara's bid for Pune was way better than what the Adani group ($315 million) or the Pune consortium ($261.3 million) had to offer. Sahara spokesman Abhijit Sarkar said

it was a matter of great pride for the company, which has been the Team India sponsor for a long time also indicate that "logistics and infrastructure" were two important parameters behind finalizing the venue.

A Rendezvous representative also expressed happiness after landing the Kochi team and said,

We are very happy to note that we have been successful in today's bidding and having the Kerala franchise. We are thankful to Lalit Modi for giving us this opportunity.

The bidding of eight original IPL teams realised a total value of at Rs 2,840 crores while Sunday's bidding for two new teams are combined worth of Rs 3,235.53 crores. If the current format is retained - a total of 94 games, from the existing 60.

The Videocon group apparently had the backing of Bollywood superstars Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor but they failed to bag a team. Salman Khan also presence in the bidding but it is not clear which team he was representing.